


The Fox and The Hound

by kryptonarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Homophobic Language, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-28
Updated: 2012-11-28
Packaged: 2017-11-19 18:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/576342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kryptonarry/pseuds/kryptonarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were friends, then they were enemies. Then they were more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fox and The Hound

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my Tumblr and 1dfanfics. Title belongs to Daniel P. Mannix/Disney. This fic is also my baby, I don't know, I'm just really proud of/happy with this one.

“Mr. Horan, you are aware that you’re failing my class. You need to pass or you don’t graduate,” Mr. Johnson explained to the blonde, looking at him from across his desk. Graduation was only a few weeks away; Niall was going to need a miracle at this point.

“I know, I know,” Niall sighed, running his fingers through his hair. English was his worst subject. Reading was boring and writing was just something he couldn’t get into. Grammar concepts were lost on him completely. “I just…I’m struggling. Plus I’ve got the AP calculus and AP chemistry tests coming up soon.”

Mr. Johnson nodded in understanding and gestured behind Niall, indicating someone else was in room. Niall turned around slowly, stomach dropping. “I’ve asked Mr. Malik to tutor you and he agreed.” The dark haired boy was leaning against the door frame, inspecting his nails in disinterest. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and ripped jeans, he looked like a greaser (a tool Niall’s brain filled in unhelpfully).

“Is there anyone else?” Niall asked frantically, turning back around to face his teacher. Anyone would be better than the school’s resident bully and Niall’s former best friend. “Please, I can’t work with him.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Horan, he’s got the top marks in my class and he’s the most qualified. I want you guys to work on revising your last three papers and writing your fourth. I want them all by the fifth of May, you’ve got a week,” Mr. Johnson told him, handing back the last three essays.

Niall sighed and took the papers, unwilling to look at them. He was embarrassed to see the grades on them and the teacher’s comments always made him feel like an idiot. “I’ll do it, but I won’t like it,” he told Mr. Johnson before turning away from his desk.

“Good,” The teacher called after him as Niall left his classroom, Zayn following after him.

“So, I take it you still hate me then,” Zayn said, there was a bitterness in his tone that made Niall feel sick. They’d been friends since kindergarten but things had fallen apart when they’d reached high school.

“I don’t hate you,” Niall replied defensively, stopping at his locker. He dumped off the books he wasn’t going to need over the weekend and put everything he needed for English in his backpack.

Zayn laughed humorously, leaning up against the bank of lockers with his arms folded over his chest. “You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”

-x-

“And we'll always be friends forever. Won't we?” Tod asked on screen, Zayn echoed the words as he nudged Niall gently with his elbow.  The pair was laying on Zayn’s twin bed, squished shoulder to shoulder, heads propped up on the same pillow, watching _The Fox and The Hound_. They’d watched this movie together every Saturday night since they were five.  Even now, at fourteen years old, about to start high school in a few weeks, they were keeping up the tradition.

“Yeah, forever.” Niall and Copper reply in unison.

“So, I can tell you anything then right?” Zayn asked, biting his lip nervously, eyes locked on the television.

Niall frowned, pushing himself up on his elbows so that he could look at Zayn properly. “What’s wrong?”

Zayn squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, trying to find his words. He was hoping for the best, they’d been friends for so long; there was no way Niall would be upset about what he had to say.

“I have a crush on someone. I don’t know how they’ll take it though,” Zayn starts, glancing at Niall, a blush already creeping up his neck. “I’ve known this person my whole life, I don’t want to tell them and have things get weird, but I just need to get this out.”

“Who is it?” Niall asked, frowning. He couldn’t think of any girls that Zayn had known his whole life that he’d ever shown any interest in, besides one. “Is it Chelsea Moore?”

Zayn sighed and sat up, sitting crossed-legged, elbows propped on his knees. “No, it’s not her. It’s not a girl at all,” he replied, putting his face in his hands.

Niall frowned even more and sat up too, suddenly unsure of what to say next. His best friend had a crush on guy, okay. “Um…is it Harry Styles then?” he asked, thinking of a random boy from their class. They’d hung out with him a few times and he was pretty cool.

“No, Niall, no. It’s you, okay, it’s you,” Zayn told him quietly, watching the blonde through his fingers.

Niall’s face went pale at this. Zayn had a crush on him. This was not at all what he expected; he didn’t know what to do now. “Oh,” he said softly, getting up from Zayn’s bed. “I’m-wow. Zayn, I’m not gay, okay. I think I’m just going to go,” he rambled, backing away from the bed, away from Zayn.

“Please, don’t go. It doesn’t have to mean anything, I just wanted you to know,” Zayn pleaded, scrambling to his feet. “I know you’re not gay. I don’t even know if I am, I just like you,” he explained, reaching out to touch Niall’s arm.

“Don’t touch me, Zayn, just don’t even talk to me anymore, please,” Niall snapped, pulling his arm away from Zayn’s touch. “Bye, Zayn.”

Zayn watched Niall go and didn’t try to stop him. He figured Niall would come around eventually, but he never did. They went their separate ways only seeing each other occasionally in the halls.

-x-

Niall gave Zayn a ride to his house so they could get started right away. He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, not wanting to spend any more time with Zayn than strictly necessary. It was strange feeling that way about someone you used to spend every waking moment with.  He’d accepted Zayn’s confession a long time ago, but it took him too long. He’d let their friendship fall apart when he could have done something about it. Now he was just afraid Zayn would reject him like he’d done to Zayn.

“Wow, your writing really is shit,” observed Zayn as he read over the first paper. “I mean, I’ve always known it was bad but when did it get this bad?” he asked, more harsh than necessary.

The two boys were sitting together on Niall’s couch, closer than they’d been in a long time. “I guess that’s why you’re supposed to be helping me, you’ve always been really good at all this English stuff,” he replied, opening the word document on his computer.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Zayn agreed, looking up at Niall through his eyelashes. Niall gulped, suddenly feeling his cheeks flaring. Why did he have to look at him like that?

It was in that moment that Niall realized he might have feelings for a boy that he’d long ago rejected.

-x-

“You’re getting faggot all over my locker, Tomlinson,” Zayn snarled at the smaller boy, shoving him out the way. All the sophomores had lockers in the same hall and by some unfortunate twist of fate Zayn’s locker was the one right in between Niall’s and Louis Tomlinson’s, his two least favorite people. He envied Louis because he had the balls to be who he was, he was extremely flamboyant and everyone loved him. Zayn couldn’t be that person.

Louis whined when his elbow smacked directly into the lock of the next locker over, “Fuck off, Malik,” he snapped back, rubbing his elbow.

“What did you say to me?” Zayn questioned, shoving Louis again. Louis winced when he hit his head on a locker.

“Leave him alone,” a voice that Zayn was very familiar with stated harshly. Niall was coming to Louis’ rescue then. The blonde slid in between Zayn and Louis, shoving Zayn backward. “I don’t think you’ve got any place to be picking on the gay kids,” he hissed, eyes narrowed at Zayn.

“You better watch it, Horan,” Zayn hissed back, shoving Niall who shoved him right back. Zayn watched Niall closely, he’d never seen the other boy like this, so angry before. Without another word Zayn pushed passed Niall and Louis, pushed through the crowd that had formed and trudged down the hallway.

-x-

After two hours they’d only worked through one of Niall’s papers, both boys were completely frustrated but relieved that it was finished.

Niall breathed a sigh of relief and clicked the save button. “Thank you,” he said as he threw his arms around Zayn, hugging him awkwardly around the shoulders. Niall could feel Zayn’s whole body go stiff before relaxing just as quickly into his embrace.

“I’ve missed you,” The blonde said softly. The scary part is that it’s true.

Zayn’s stiffens again and finally pulls out of Niall’s arms, jumping quickly to his feet. He turns and points a finger at Niall, poking him square in the chest. “Fuck you, Niall. You’re the one that walked away. What right do you have to miss me?”

Niall glared up at him and set his laptop down. He stood up and squared his shoulders, trying to make himself as tall as he could. “You were my best friend, we did everything together. I may have walked way but that doesn’t mean I can’t miss you.”

“But it does, okay. It does,” Zayn replied, voice cracking slightly. There was nothing he hated more than feeling weak, but Niall just did something to him. Then he kissed him, he kissed Niall and he didn’t know why.

Niall froze for a moment but then he was kissing Zayn back; it was rough and angry, their teeth clacking together painfully. Niall fisted his hands into Zayn’s shirt, shoving him away after a moment. “Why did you do that?” he yelled, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

“I don’t know,” the dark haired boy replied, shaking his head. “I don’t fucking know.”

-x-

Liam Payne transfers schools at beginning of their junior year; he’s full of charm and he’s smart and he makes fasts friends with Niall. Every time Zayn sees them together he just wants to punch Liam in his face. He’s always smiling and he makes Niall laugh and Zayn just misses being able to do that. He knows Niall hates him, but that doesn’t stop him from missing him. He just wishes that Niall was still at least his best friend.

Zayn wants to make Niall happy like that, to make him smile, to make him laugh. He wants to be the one for Niall, because Niall is the one for him, if only he would let him.

Over the last two years though, Zayn has learned to accept that he’s not going to get his best friend back and he’s not going to ever be more than that because Niall is afraid. He figured it out, figured him out; it’s not hard when you’ve known a person for so long.

-x-

Niall didn’t speak to Zayn all weekend, despite needing to work on the three remaining papers. Back in school on Monday, Zayn caught him during lunch and said he’d meet him after school by their lockers to go work on the papers.

Niall was the first to their lockers after school, the only other person in the hallway was Louis who was digging around in his own locker.

“Hey Louis,” Niall greeted Louis as he dialed in the combination for his locker. Since the incident with Zayn, Louis considered Niall his friend, even though they didn’t talk much outside of school. Zayn didn’t bother Louis anymore since and for that Louis was grateful.

“Hey,” Louis greeted Niall with a smile. “How’re you?” he asked as he closed his locker.

Niall shrugged as he exchanged the books from his bag to his locker, “Can I ask you something?” He glanced at Louis for a second, then back down to his backpack.

“You just did,” Louis teased but nodded for Niall to continue.

Niall took a deep breath and closed his locker, then turned his full attention to Louis. “I think I might be gay. Or well, not gay, I think I just like someone.”

“That’s not a question,” Louis stated. “Are you trying to ask how I knew I was gay?”

Niall blushed and nodded. This is why he had asked Louis, because Louis was intuitive and sure of himself, where Niall just wasn’t.

“Come here,” commanded Louis. Niall took a tentative step closer to the older boy and Louis did the same. “I’m going to kiss you,” he told him as he took Niall’s face in his hands. Niall was uncertain about this, anyone could come by and see but he let Louis kiss him anyway. He was never going to know if he was into guys or if it was just one in particular.

Niall kissed Louis back but there was no spark, no real excitement. Maybe he didn’t like boys at all then, okay.

“We have work to do,” came a harsh greeting. Niall pulled back quickly from Louis and nearly fell over backwards. Zayn stood just a few feet away with a blank expression on his face and his arms folded over his chest. Niall knew in that moment that it was only Zayn that he liked. The hurt in his eyes was betraying the rest of seemingly disinterested expression. The hurt made Niall’s heartache. He didn’t want to be the cause of that pain anymore.

“Look, it’s not what you think,” Niall began to explain, but Zayn just shook his head and cut him off. “I don’t want to hear it okay, it’s fine. Let’s just go.”

“Right, okay.” Niall nodded, looking at Louis, the boy looked like he wanted the ground to just open and swallow him whole right there on the spot. “Thanks,” he told him Louis awkwardly before turning on his heel and began walking away, Zayn trudging along behind him.

-x-

The scene in Niall’s living room was the same was it was Friday; the only thing that was different was how tense things had become between them. He knew he’d hurt Zayn kissing Louis, but how do you explain to someone that you were doing it for them?

“Can we talk about what happened at school?” Niall asked, breaking the awkward silence.

“No, let’s just get this done,” Zayn answered, as he went over the second paper with a red pen.

“But, I think we really need to talk about it,” Niall replied, shutting his laptop. “It wasn’t what it looked like, okay. He was just trying to help me figure out my feelings.”

Zayn’s knuckles were going white around his pen as he pressed it too hard into paper, causing a red spot to pool over some of the words. “Niall, you’re not my boyfriend, you’re not even my friend. You don’t have to justify yourself to me,” the bitterness in his words was back, the same bitterness that made him feel sick just a few days ago.

“I know,” Niall said softly, moving his laptop to the coffee table. The blonde turned to face the dark haired boy, gently prying the pen from Zayn’s hand. “I know I ruined things before, but I’d really like you to try and take a chance on me. I’d like to make up for the things I’ve done. I want to fix this because I miss you. I fucking miss you, okay. I was a jerk, but something I realized after it was too late is that I like you too.”

Zayn’s face looked pained and he didn’t know what to do, he’d been wanting to those words from that boy for so long and now they were happening and he wasn’t sure what to say, to do, to feel. He didn’t want to let this chance slip away, but the last time he confessed his feelings to this boy he stomped all over them. So, instead of saying anything, he took a chance like Niall asked him, he leaned over and kissed him again.

The kiss was softer, gentler than the last they shared, this time their lips and tongues moving together, working in harmony. This time there was no fight in it, but there were still raw emotions. Zayn brought his hand up to hold Niall’s cheek, feeling a dampness that he wasn’t aware of before. Niall was crying.

Zayn broke the kiss and pressed his forehead gently up against Niall’s, wiping his tears with his thumbs. “Hi,” he said softly. “I’m willing to give this a try, give you a try. I’m going to take a chance on you.”

“Copper, you're my best friend,” replied Niall, smiling as another tear escaped his eye.

“And you're mine too, Tod,” Zayn followed without hesitation.

“And we'll always be friends forever. Won't we?” Niall asks putting his hands on Zayn’s where they still resting on his cheeks.

Zayn smiles and kisses him again then finishes the line, “Yeah, forever.”

The line that broke them helped to put the pieces back together, helped to put them back together. Forever was a long time, and people change but at least they were in it together now.

 


End file.
